JOB EVALUATION PLANS
The most common job evaluation methods are ranking (1), classification (2), and point methods (3) which will be briefly discussed in terms of the advantages and disadvantages that they can bring. Ranking method is the simplest job plan which is commonly being used for ranking the jobs from the highest level to the lowest one. Each job is ordered and ranked in terms of its relative value and contribution to the organization’s mission, vision, strategies, and operations. Before using this plan, it is important to obtain data and information for each job and then to group all of them. The selected jobs are being compared to each other in terms of some compensable factors such as difficulty, responsibility, physical effort, or work conditions. The final ratings done by independent raters are combined, compared, and decided for assigning the pay scale. While this plan is simple, easy, and cheap, it is a limited way of defining jobs.
Classification is another common method that is based on grouping jobs with some specific criteria. The jobs are classified by independent raters according to their similarities and common points, and then the categories are created to keep similar jobs in the same groups. While this plan is not highly time-consuming, and relatively easier than advanced methods, some jobs can be classified within more than one group that can create complicated situations. Point method is the third most known and used plan. The core ideas of this method are identifying compensable factors for jobs, numerically scaling the factor degrees, and finally giving points to get the value of the whole job. Different than the above-mentioned methods, this plan provides five degrees for each compensable factor and assigns points for each degree. Independent raters determine the degree of each job. While the point method is more complex, it provides a numerical and quantitative evaluation to provide an objective result of job evaluation. Using more than one plan brings advantages rather than disadvantages because one plan can cause a distinctive but poor aspect and the nature of jobs in an organization can be more diversified than predicted. The main advantages of using multiple plans are such as the followings:
-Increase objectivity and reliability in job evaluation,
-Build fairness and help to make job evaluation fairly,
-Cover diverse job contents,
-Use several compensable factors,
-Integrate the benefits of the selected plans,
-Provide an advanced level of evaluation.
